Hard Disk Failure
by Mistress Megatron
Summary: It just seemed like everything in life was failing her, and all she wanted was for him to understand just how much pain she was in. One-shot. RatchetxOC


It's kind of amazing what you can get inspiration from, and all I can say about this is "Why not?" Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to Hasbro and not me. The OC in this does belong to me though.

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**Hard Disk Failure**

"Ratchet, can you fix this?"

The Autobot medic looked down at the obviously flustered female in front of him. She held out her laptop to him. He pursed his lips to the side. He had never really been too fond of this human. She hardly ever gave him a free moment and always managed to find a way to get under his servos. But his kindhearted nature got the best of him.

"What's wrong with it?" he asked.

"I'm not a computer genius," she stated blatantly, "But it was working fine up until a few minutes ago when it suddenly froze, made weird clicking noises, and then wouldn't turn back on. It just gave me an error message that said imminent failure of the hard disk."

"…Do you know what that means?"

"Something that isn't good."

"Your hard drive failed."

"Perfect…just what I need right now."

"Did you have your files and stuff backed up?"

"No…"

"Well, give me the laptop, I'll see what I can do to keep you from losing your stuff," he said as he lowered his hand to take the laptop.

The girl gently set it in his hand and asked, "How long is this going to take?"

"A couple hours probably."

"Okay then, I'll be back a little later." And she left the med bay.

Ratchet sighed and watched as she left. He then shook his head and activated his holoform. In his robot mode, he was much too large to repair a human's laptop. Once in his holoform though, he carefully took the laptop and went over to a small workstation where he removed the hard drive cover from the laptop. He then hooked a few wires to the hard drive, which were plugged into another computer. He didn't know if this would work or not, but he typed in a command into the working computer and grinned as the female's files suddenly started appearing. He began saving them into one folder so that he could quickly transfer her files back to her laptop once he replaced the hard drive.

Once the files had finished transferring, he quickly found a hard drive that was the same as her old one and it was compatible with her laptop. He replaced it and began the recovery process for her laptop. Since it was going to take about an hour, he looked back at the files that had transferred to the computer from her old hard drive. One file in particular caught his optic.

It was labeled Ratchet. And he knew, being a medic that he shouldn't go through anyone's personal files even if it were a human, everyone was entitled to their privacy. But then he figured since the folder was named after him, the fact that nobody else was around, and how nobody would know if he read the files that one small peek wouldn't hurt. And without hesitating, he opened the folder, only to discover several documents saved under it. Still curious though, he opened the first one.

_7/11/08  
I think I met a god today. He wasn't a human, but rather a giant robot from another planet called Cybertron. Maybe it was fate for us to meet, I'm not really sure. If it weren't for him though, I don't think I would be alive right now. I had accidentally gotten caught up in one of the battles between the Autobots and the Decepticons, but I am so grateful he saved my life. His name is Ratchet and I sure do hope that I can get to know him better. I may have said a billion thank yous and got him agitated by saying so many, but I'm just not sure how else to express my gratitude in a way he'll understand._

Ratchet hesitated before he closed that file and moved on to the next one. Even though he knew this was wrong, he was still curious to know what else the female had to say.

_7/28/08  
Okay so it's been a week…and I think Ratchet hates me. I think I got on his nerves or something by following him around and talking to him all the time. I guess I just have to back off until he calms down and gets used to me. Maybe he only saved my life out of courtesy. He didn't really have to though, but he did anyway. Perhaps it was Optimus' orders. I don't know. I'm just getting myself confused._

_7/30/08  
I lasted two days without talking to him. A measly 48 hours. Gosh I'm such a dependent, conniving, annoyance. And Ratchet sure didn't look too happy when I walked into the med bay. I kept my visit short though; I didn't want him too angry with me. And I'm not sure why I have to see him. I just feel better whenever I do…like I'm satisfying some sort of inner desire. But I'm not making sense again._

_8/5/08  
He kicked me out of the med bay today. It was both humiliating and hurtful. I guess his "shut up and get out!" was supposed to be nice…but it didn't feel nice. I went to my room and cried, and I'm not going to tell anyone that. Sometimes I feel like we're the greatest friends in the world and then other times I feel like he hates me and categorizes me as the worst person in the world. I know his duty as medic is hard and frustrating, I just wish he would understand he's my only friend here and the only one that I trust._

_8/14/08  
I don't understand anymore. I don't know how Ratchet feels about me…he always has me guessing. And I'm not even sure how I feel about him anymore. I'm always hoping he likes me, but it seems it's almost futile trying to gain his acceptance. Maybe I should just give up._

Ratchet was confused. He couldn't quite figure out what inner turmoil the female was going through, he just couldn't believe he had been the cause of her conflict. He sighed heavily. There were only a couple more files saved and he debated whether or not he should read those too. But finally he figured that since he had read this far, there wasn't any use in stopping now.

_9/3/08  
…The situation hasn't changed at all. I think I'm better off just going home and readjusting back to my old life, before I met the transformers, before I was rescued and saved by __**him.**__ But then again…something always stops me, some sort of inner voice that always convinces me to push forward, saying that everything will work out in the end. But it's lying and it hurts. I'm almost done listening._

_10/15/08  
It's taken me this long to realize what the core of the problem is. I've known Ratchet for three months now, but still it took me that long to figure this out. I must be messed up in the head. But…as hard as this seems to confess, I have to._

_I love him._

_And it's not the friendship kind of love; it's the "I wish we were more than friends" kind of love. When I started having dreams about him, crying myself to sleep over him, I began to figure that whatever I was feeling definitely wasn't normal. And I know he doesn't feel the same way. Somehow I made him hate me…and I should probably leave soon before I start feeling worse. He doesn't enjoy my company anyway, and he's made that quite clear multiple times._

_Maybe when I go I'll leave these notes behind somewhere where he can find them. I don't think they will change how he feels, but at least maybe he can get a few good laughs out of them at my expense. And thankfully I won't be around to hear his laughter. _

_There will always be unanswered questions though…like what the real reason was for him saving my life. I would like to think that it was because he wanted the chance to get to know me better, but I doubt it. He's a good guy. He always will be. I don't think he ever intentionally meant to hurt me, but my heart can only take so much. Whatever I am being put through isn't healthy. _

_I just wish I had the strength to tell him the truth because in the end, I do think he would understand. He would know why I just couldn't leave him alone; he would know that I never meant to be a burden to him or an annoyance. We may not have been best friends, but he certainly was a friend. And a savior. And a whole lot more._

Ratchet closed out of the folder feeling a little shaky. He knew that sometimes he hadn't been the nicest person to the girl, but he figured that since she kept coming back that it really wasn't taking a toll on her. He hadn't ever suspected that she felt so much for him. He had always wanted to know why she kept coming around, acted so friendly, blushed so frequently. He smiled as he felt a satisfying warmth come over his chassis from his spark.

He too had been fighting his own inner turmoil. Despite the fact that he had never grown to fond of the girl, he had always enjoyed her company. She always had something interesting to say, she was never boring, and she was in college herself studying to be a nurse, so she knew a lot about the medical field. After getting to know her for three months, he had grown very fond of her as well, but didn't recognize the feelings. He was mean to her in turn; he cast her away while he denied the strong emotions that were beginning to overwhelm him.

_Ratchet you old fool._

He wouldn't laugh. Never would he laugh at how she felt about him. And he finally did understand, it was her understanding that brought him to his. He loved her too, and if she didn't have the strength to tell him, then he had to take the initiative. And he had to do it before she did decide to leave.

Ratchet glanced at her laptop and saw that it had finished the recovery process. He started it up and waited as it configured back to its original factory settings. After an hour, it finished doing that and it started up just fine. He then transferred her files back onto her laptop, which took a few minutes itself. And since she hadn't backed them up before, he also saved her files onto a CD-ROM so that she could have them incase her hard drive went again.

And just as he was in the process of taking the CD out of the CD drive, the girl walked back into the med bay. She was a bit surprised to find him in his holoform, but she realized he wouldn't have been able to fix her laptop in his robot form since he was too big. Hesitantly, she walked over to him and asked, "Well, how'd it go?"

"I managed to save everything you had saved onto your hard drive, but the hard drive had to be replaced. You might have to reset a couple things, but other than that it should be okay."

And she hesitated again, "You didn't…see any of my files did you?"

Ratchet knew he couldn't lie, "Yes I did."

"What ones?"

"The ones you didn't want me to see most likely…that were about me."

A blush engulfed her face and her voice was quiet, "Well uh…if you're finished then I'll just take my laptop and be going. I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble."

She reached for her laptop but Ratchet gently took her by the wrist, "Rachel, we need to talk."

The brunette girl looked away from him; Ratchet saw tears forming in her green eyes. He knew that she hadn't planned for this and he figured that she wasn't going to the start the conversation. "Rachel why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to know how you would react, if you would kick me out again or if you would nicely turn me away. I _still_ don't want to know."

"You of all people should know that I don't have it in my spark to purposefully hurt another individual like yourself. You should've let me know that I was hurting you, I would've stopped."

She still wouldn't look at him. "I was afraid…" she admitted quietly.

"Afraid of what?"

"Afraid of what you would say and I know you wouldn't physically hurt me…how much of that file did you read?"

"All of it. You really weren't planning on leaving were you?"

"I was…I was going to tomorrow but then my computer went to hell and back. Just let me take my laptop and go," she said as she tried to break free from him.

Ratchet tightened his grip and pulled her directly against him. "Hold on Rachel," he remarked calmly, "There's something else we need to talk about."

"Oh please don't ridicule me for how I feel."

"I hadn't planned on it; just know that I do understand."

"Under…understand?"

"You were seeking my friendship, and you can have it. You wanted my companionship, and you can have that too—

"But you always turned me away—

"I didn't know what else to do. I was confused by my own emotions, emotions that you caused to stir within me."

"What do you mean?"

"I was frustrated because I couldn't figure you out. No matter what I said to you, you always came back. And I apologize sincerely for ever hurting you. Now Rachel…"

She looked up into his eyes, "Yes?"

"You can have my spark too." He watched with amusement as surprise glittered through her eyes.

She stuttered in disbelief, "Say…Say that again."

"I said," he whispered this time as he cupped her cheek in his hand and stroked his thumb across her soft, delicate flesh, "That you can have my spark too."

"Ratchet—

"You are the only one for me and I am sorry it took me this long to realize that. Rachel, I love you." And he lowered his face to hers before capturing her lips in a fiery kiss. Almost immediately he felt her melt against him, her fingers twisted into his shirt and held him firmly. Sighing feeling fulfillment, he wrapped his arms tightly around her and when the kiss expired, he watched as she rested her head on his chest, her arms around his waist.

And he felt her smile. "I love you too Ratchet."

The Autobot medic felt a grin stretch across his face, "No more hurt anymore, I want your honesty…"

"I want you here next to me…" she breathed.

"Your complete devotion..."

"Your faith and trust…"

"Forever Rachel."

"For _always_ Ratchet."

The lights dimmed as the laptop was shut down and closed. Ratchet wouldn't let her leave the med bay alone this time; he was going to go with her as he should have so many times before. He took Rachel's hand, smiling. Never before in his lifetime had he seen a computer failure make two people this happy.

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I never planned on doing a RatchetxOC pairing ever, but I guess my computer crashed just so that could happen and inspire. After all, if your computer crashed, what TF would you take it to? This is entirely a one-shot and nothing more. Please review!


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